Tourist

The substantial growth of tourism in developing countries such as Mexico and China results in unique situations that take place in rural or urban contexts that express the contrast between the visitor and the visited. "Tourist" is a collection of photographs taken in both these countries between 2015 and 2017 that explores the dynamics resulting from these interactions. 

 

The project is the result of a search to better understand and seek proximity with the discrepancies observed in situations involving tourists and locals. Whether it’s capturing the monotonous day-to-day of a security guard behind a lobby counter, the precarious existence of a surfer earning a living on the coast of Oaxaca or the pomp and flamboyance of a quinceañera touring the city, the project's priority is  to faithfully convey the force and depth of the people involved and the remarkable situations that tourism creates.

 

The photographs' focus is on the tourists' activities and characteristics—their fashion, use of cellphones, cameras, and care-free extravagance—and how these contrast with locals living their day-to-day. The appropriation of these touristic places and of the culture of the people that live, who in turn also become fetishized, is the main subjuect of this collection.